Meeting at SOCAP17:  Rising to the Challenge on Climate Change & Girls’ Education

Meeting at: 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM on October 12 2017 at Festival Pavilion Meeting Room #3 (on left side of Festival Pavilion when looking to back of same Pavilion).

This is a meeting for people who feel not nearly enough is being done to rise to the challenge of climate change and are motivated to help take action. One area of action that we feel is critically important is educating girls in developing countries since it has been shown to dramatically reduce population growth rate. So much so that the Brookings Institution calls secondary schooling for girls the most cost-effective and best investment against climate change.

In a recent article published by this organization (http://brook.gs/2crThOB), they indicated that if girls’ education was funded adequately, there would be approximately two billion less people in the world than are currently projected to be in 2045. In this same article, they also outline how this reduction in population growth helps mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

To support the education and entrepreneurship in Africa, especially for girls, we are working on an initiative to combine renewable energy with free education resources to support schools. This initiative is called ThinkBiz Africa. To learn more about it, please see our 2.5 min. introductory video at: Link.

During this same meeting, we also will invite participants to discuss what other initiatives that can and should also be implemented on a global scale to help mitigate climate change.

Additional Reference Information:

a) Draft slideshow prepared for this meeting at this link.

b) New Brookings Article: 3 ways to link girls’ education actors to climate action, Sep. 27, 2017